Crist May Be Prepping to Run for Fla. Governor as Democrat

Former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s surprise endorsement of President Barack Obama suggests the Republican-turned-independent may be positioning himself to try to win back his old job as a Democrat, The Miami Herald reported Monday.

In an op-ed column in Sunday’s Tampa Bay Times, Crist hailed Obama as “the right leader for our times” and said the president “has a strong record of doing what is best for America and Florida.”

Meanwhile, CNN reported that Crist will speak at the Democratic National Convention next month in Charlotte.

Crist, who once called himself a “Reagan Republican” and a “Jeb Bush Republican,” appears to be giving himself a political makeover with an eye to positioning himself to challenge incumbent GOP Gov. Rick Scott in 2014, the Herald said.

A one-term Florida governor, Crist saw his career tank in 2010 when he left the Republican Party and ran for the U.S. Senate as an independent. He lost to Republican Marco Rubio.

Larry Curry, chairman of the Florida Republican Party, condemned Crist’s endorsement of Obama, which came on the eve of the Republican convention, as “political opportunism, plain and simple.”